Making It McKono
by bgharison
Summary: In which I take episodes that could have, should have, been McKono . . . and fix 'em. This started as a one-shot Ua Hopu (Caught) tag, which turned into two chapters, which were enthusiastically received (awww, thanks!) so . . . I'll write more as the muse strikes, and put them here in this little collection. (Have an episode that you'd like "fixed"? Drop me a note!)
1. Ua Hopu (Caught) 1

A/N: Because, really, _this_ is how it should have happened . . .

#*#*#*#*#

"Come here," Steve said, his long arm wrapping around Kono and pulling her close. Lights flashed in all directions as HPD swarmed to clean up the mess.

"You don't write, you don't call," Kono murmured, as Steve chuckled.

"We missed you," she said.

He pulled back, keeping one hand wrapped around her shoulder, and studied her for a long moment. He glanced at Adam, who was being shuttled into an HPD cruiser, and then back at Kono. The lights from a turning SUV cut across her face.

He saw it then, faintly: an abrasion, across her mouth, onto her cheeks. A tiny split in her full, soft upper lip.

"Kono," he said, his eyes narrowing in concern.

He glanced at Chin. The man's jaw was clenched, his eyes glinting as he stared at the back of Adam's head through the rear window of the retreating cruiser.

Steve looked back at Kono, carefully. "Let's go ahead and get the paperwork done," he said, trying to make it sound like a suggestion that she was obligated to follow. He pointed to Lansing. "Nice reflexes, by the way. Good shot."

"I was trained by the best," she shrugged.

"I don't have my truck here," Steve said. "Mind driving?"

Chin's eyes met Steve's, a slight nod exchanged between the two men, and then Chin's eyes cut almost imperceptibly to Kono's wrist. Steve caught the subtle motion and tilted his head in acknowledgement.

#*#*#*#*#

Steve followed Kono into the elevator. She was antsy; coming off the inevitable adrenaline dump from taking a kill shot. She tapped her foot impatiently and pressed the button for the second floor again, her sleeve riding up as she reached out her arm.

His hand was on her forearm, gently, but wrapped around her sleeve in such a way that it wouldn't slip back down, keeping her wrist exposed so that he could trace a long, careful finger around the torn and bruised skin.

"Steve, I can explain," she started, her halting words interrupted by the ding of the elevator.

His eyes met hers, his expression unreadable. He kept his hand carefully wrapped around her arm, his touch warm but feather-light, and his other hand settled on the small of her back as he steered her into his office.

He nodded his head toward one of the comfortable chairs, and she crossed her arms over her chest, stubborn.

"Kono," he sighed, tilting his head to the side and looking at her. "Please. Sit down."

She sat, tucking one foot under her. He glanced down, saw the unmistakable residue and threads of duct tape still clinging to her boot. Silently, he turned and pulled a small first aid kit out of his desk drawer and placed it on the corner of the desk closest to her. He rummaged for a moment and came out with a handful of gauze pads, antiseptic, and antibiotic cream.

"You want to explain this to me," he asked quietly, "or do I get the story from Chin?" He dampened a gauze pad with antiseptic as he talked.

"It's not a big deal," Kono said, watching him warily as he sat in his desk chair and rolled toward her.

He picked up her arm in one hand, and Kono winced as he started dabbing at the broken skin with the other.

"Then it shouldn't be a problem to explain," he said, as he painstakingly applied the cream. He waited for her to speak, wrapping her wrist in clean gauze.

"I was with Adam," Kono said, her voice low. "WoFat killed his father, and Adam had a plan to exact revenge. I tried to talk him out of it, but . . . "

Steve picked up her other hand and started repeating the process.

"So, he demanded that you hold out your hands, and you did, willingly, and you let him bind and gag you with duct tape?" he asked. "Something about that doesn't add up." He looked at her then, his eyes searching hers for a moment, then he dampened a fresh gauze pad and started carefully dabbing it on the broken skin across her mouth and cheek.

She winced when the gauze grazed over the cut on her lip.

"Sorry," Steve murmured. "You just let him tape you up? I think you could have taken him."

He was not going to let this go, Kono realized, and she sighed. "He pulled a gun."

He picked up another pad, moistened it, and pressed it gently to her cheekbone, where the brighter light of his office had revealed a scrape and a bruise.

"He hit you?" he asked, his voice dangerous.

"No, I . . . no. He didn't hit me, Steve; I was on the ground, trying to get loose, and I guess I just hit my face . . . "

His fingers were impossibly tender as he rubbed cream over the bruised, puffy skin.

"So, he pulled a gun on you, put tape over your mouth, around your wrists and ankles, and left you? Alone. On the floor of . . . where? Where, Kono?" He leaned over her, brushing her hair away from her face, searching for more injuries.

"One of the abandoned houses that he, or his father, or the Yakuza own," she said, quietly, dropping her eyes.

He tucked his fingers under her chin, tilting her face up to look at him.

"And who found you?" he asked, his thumb stroking over her jaw.

"Chin," she said. "He'd followed us; saw that Adam left but that I wasn't with him."

"And what if Chin hadn't been there? Adam left you there, alone, defenseless . . . "

Kono snorted, her eyes flashing, and Steve had to smile. "Alone, and bound," he amended.

"But he -"

"He. Hurt. You," Steve growled, and she couldn't deny the shiver that raced up her spine at the sound of it.

Shiver aside, she looked at him defiantly. They'd worked together for over a year; he was her boss, her friend, her mentor. She'd never acted on the undercurrent of attraction that had been there from that first moment on the beach, when Chin introduced them - but she'd never denied it, either. He'd had ample opportunity, but his damn officer-and-gentleman sense of honor and duty was impenetrable.

Or so she'd thought. The look in his eyes right now, as he studied her, might beg to differ.

"Barely broke the skin," she said, aiming for self-assured and almost managing, as she stood. "Thanks for patching me up. I better go get started on the paperwork."

She made it two steps toward the door before his hand was on her hip, fingers barely grazing, but it was enough to make her hesitate.

"Something else you needed, boss?" she asked, concentrating on keeping her voice level as she heard his chair roll back slightly, sensed the solid presence of him standing close behind her, his fingers tightening ever so slightly.

"I should have been here," he said, quiet, close to her ear, and a lesser woman would have been startled.

She turned, boldly staying in his space, and his hand ended up at the small of her back.

"You were otherwise engaged," she drawled, half-grinning, "you know, bringing in a fugitive international arms dealer and what-not."

He shook his head slightly. "Not worth it; not if while my back was turned, someone's here, hurting what's mi-" He stopped abruptly. "My responsibility. My team."

"Is that what I am?" she asked quietly. "Boss?"

He swallowed hard, his fingers flexing at her waist. "Yes."

She reached up and traced a long, elegant finger over the cut on his forehead - so much worse than hers, it was bruising, maybe enough that he should be checked for a concussion. His breath hitched when she stepped even closer to him, reaching behind him for the antiseptic and gauze. She mimicked his motions in dampening a gauze pad, pressing it gently to the wound.

"Is that what I am?" she repeated, gently and carefully cleaning away the blood, her hands cool and soothing on his overheated skin. "Steve?"

"Yes . . ." he said, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch.

"Are you sure that's all you want?" she whispered.

He stopped breathing. Lines. There were so many lines, and they were there for good reasons. There were probably rules. Danny would have been able to tell him what page they were on, in the handbook. And Chin.

And Chin's shotgun.

"No," he whispered anyway.

"Say it. Say what you were going to say," she murmured, and he was pretty sure it was a bad, bad sign that he couldn't find it in himself to resist.

He opened his eyes, looked into hers.

"Mine," he said, and it was quiet, and low, but it was no whisper and there was no hesitation, no question. The fingers that had been resting gently at her waist now splayed possessively across her lower back, his large hand covering as much territory as possible as he pulled her closer to him.

His eyes darkened as he gently touched the bruise on her cheek, and the tiny cut on her lip.

"Mine," he repeated.

She nodded, her pulse quickening, and he bent his head the few inches between them and kissed her carefully, mindful of the cut. His hand slid from her cheek into her hair, tangling in the tousled waves and angling her face _just so_ until he was rewarded with a breathy moan.

He knew that from now on, his life would be meaningless without _that_ sound.

"Say it," he whispered, his eyes holding hers.

"Yours."

He tried - tried to be careful, to be mindful, but he tasted a hint of blood, salt and copper on his tongue, and he pulled back, his breathing ragged, and pressed his forehead to hers for a moment, pulling on the reins of his considerable, Navy-trained self-control. He grazed his lips tenderly over the bruise on her cheek instead, and lifted each of her now-bandaged wrists in turn and pressed kisses there.

"I'm taking you home," he said. "With me," he added, and she nodded. Of course he was. That's where this had been headed, all along, and they both knew it.

"What about the paperwork?" she asked.

"Will Lansing still be dead tomorrow?" he drawled.

"Yep."

"Then the paperwork can wait until tomorrow."

#*#*#*#*#

"Hunh . . ." Danny said, scratching his head and looking around. "Kono's office is untouched, but Steve's office is a bit of a mess, which, gonna say, is one of the first indications we've had that he's human."

"Ummhmm," Chin said, looking past Danny at Steve's desk, littered with first aid supplies.

Danny turned around again, looked - _really_ looked - at the mess on Steve's desk.

"Wait," Danny blurted out, holding up a hand. "Steve had a little graze on his forehead, I think, but he wouldn't have messed with that here . . . what -"

"Kono," Chin said, his eyes darkening, "had a bruise on her cheek and abrasions on her wrists. You wouldn't have noticed last night, in the dark and the chaos."

"Wait, Kono had - who -" Danny's brows furrowed in confusion, as his brain tried putting together a dozen combinations at once.

"Adam," Chin said, spitting out the name.

"Adam . . . Noshimuri?" Danny repeated, incredulous. "He put a hand on her? On Kono."

"He did."

"So Steve found out, and he -" Danny gestured to the antiseptic and gauze.

"Looks like."

"Oh," Danny said, as he thoughtfully picked up the tube of antibiotic cream, dropped it back into the open kit. " _Oh_." He looked back at Chin, grinning. "Well, we wondered what it would take."

"We did."

"How long do you think before they show up," Danny asked, smiling and rocking back and forth a bit on his heels.

Chin looked at his watch. "I'm guessing right about now is when it's dawned on Steve that he has to make eye contact with me at some point today."

"Ah. So we have plenty of time . . . wanna go to that diner, the one with the really good waffles?" Danny suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Chin agreed, and they started walking toward the elevator.

As the elevator doors closed, Danny looked at Chin once more. "Hey, Adam Noshimuri is safely in HPD custody, right? I mean, he hurt Kono . . . "

Chin nodded and grabbed his phone.

"Hey, Duke . . . "


	2. Ua Hopu (Caught) 2

"Mornin'," Steve whispered, nuzzling the back of Kono's neck. It was one of his many new favorite places in the universe. Along with the dip between her collarbones, the gentle ridge of her hipbone . . .

"Hmmmm," Kono sighed, stretching like a sleek panther on her side of the bed.

 _One night. One night and I've already assigned her a side of the bed_ , Steve thought. _I am really and truly done for_.

"Is it light enough to swim?" Kono mumbled, her voice still sleep-raspy.

"Probably," he said. She shivered as his lips moved against the back of her neck still. He wrapped his arm around her, traced a finger over the gauze wrapped around her wrist.

The second set of bandages, he thought to himself smugly. The first set didn't survive.

"I've already been swimming and surfing . . . since," she said. "Salt water is good for scrapes. So. Can we swim?"

He chuckled and kissed the curve where her neck met her shoulder. So much for any fears of an awkward morning after. He blew a raspberry, impulsively, and was rewarded with a gale of laughter, ending in a very unladylike snort.

"What was that for?" she asked, slipping out of bed. She was gorgeous in the pale morning sunlight; all long golden limbs in his faded Norfolk Naval Base t-shirt.

"I'm happy," he said. "And you seem happy. So, I'm . . . happy."

"And this sensation of joy, this is unusual enough to leave you semi-incoherent?" she asked, tilting her head and openly admiring the view before her. He was propped up on an elbow, the tangle of sheets wrapped scandalously low around his hips.

"Yeah, kinda," he said.

"What, you thought we'd have an awkward morning after?" she asked, tucking one leg underneath her and sitting back down on the bed. "Steve. It's _us_."

"How long have you been waiting for me to get my head out of my ass?" he asked, reaching up and tucking an errant wave of hair away from her face.

"Since you drove the truck through the building when Sang Min and his men made me," she said. She slipped the hem of the t-shirt up and traced an elegant finger over the mark he'd left on her hipbone. "How long have you been wanting to do that?"

"Since you decked a guy for dropping in on your wave and called it a love tap," he said, without even having to think about it.

She smiled broadly, a flash of white teeth and dimples, and then she was unfolding and walking toward the bathroom. "Awesome," she tossed back over her shoulder, "so can we swim now?"

"You just love me for my beach access," Steve mock protested. He froze.

 _Nice, Smooth Dog_ , he thought, holding his breath.

"Doesn't hurt," she called back from the bathroom, mumbling around her toothbrush.

#*#*#*#*#

"Well, you have to decide," Kono said kindly, smiling at him over the edge of her coffee cup. "Get to the office on time with me, in my car. Or both of us arrive late, with you in your truck. Either way, I think we're busted, boss."

Steve groaned.

"You're adorable when you're uncertain, you know that?"

"You can't do that, Kono; you can't call me boss one minute and adorable the next," he said. Whined. Whatever.

She beamed at him.

"Oh, it's easy for you to stand there smiling. Chin loves you. He adores you, he worships the ground you walk on. He's very protective. And Danny. He's a detective. He'll know. He'll know immediately."

"Decision made," Kono said, grabbing her keys. "You're actually in no condition to drive. Come on, or we'll be late and riding together, and that's just going to make it worse."

"Make what worse?" Steve asked, following her down the steps of the porch.

"Whatever torture Chin decides to inflict on you," she said cheerily.

#*#*#*#*#

"They're not here," Steve said, glancing around the empty offices.

"Hmm," Kono purred. "All to ourselves . . . "

"No, Kono," he said firmly. "We're going in our own offices."

"Steve. Wait," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "You don't seriously plan to keep this a secret. Or -" her heart leapt into her throat. "Was it just a once off?"

His arms were around her, then. "God, Kono, no. Not a once off. And not a secret. I just . . ."

"You're scared of Chin," she finished, smiling again. "That's really adorable. Okay, I'll play along, just because this is going to be fun to watch. Seriously, it's not that big of a deal, though. I'm all grown up; I can screw around with whoever I want."

"That's what this is? Screwing around?" It was his turn to have his heart in his throat.

"No way, sailor," she said, twining her arms around his neck. "But that part is so much fun. And that's the part that has you nervous about facing my cousin."

"Oh shit," Steve said. Whimpered. Whatever.

#*#*#*#*#

"Think they're in the office by now?" Danny asked, patting his belly. The waffles did not disappoint.

"I imagine," Chin said. "Kono probably made them late. Access to morning ocean swimming is not something she could turn down."

"You're so sure they ended up at his place? I read that women prefer their own place," Danny said. "Want to put money on who's right?"

Chin looked at him and arched an eyebrow.

"Right," Danny said hastily. "Not placing bets on where our boss defiled your baby cousin."

"Let's go," Chin said. To his credit, his voice was only slightly strangled.

#*#*#*#*#

They were each sitting dutifully in their offices when Chin and Danny returned. Steve had cleaned up the first aid clutter strewn across his desk and was seemingly engrossed in a file. Kono was hunting and pecking away at her desktop computer.

"Morning," she said, smiling up at Danny when he came into her office.

He smiled at her, all crinkled blue eyes and fond affection. "Good morning, Kono. Sleep well?"

"Ummhmm," she said. "You?"

"Fine, fine," he said, nodding. "Your hair is . . . I think, still damp? Get in some morning surfing?"

"Yeah, it was great," she lied. Why was she lying? It was Danny. She didn't care if Danny knew. He was doing the thing, the thing he does with suspects. "Actually, just swimming, though. Not surfing." There. She has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of.

"Because Steve's beach doesn't really have waves," Danny nodded.

Kono peered up at him from under her lashes.

"One," Danny said, ticking off on his fingers, "we knew this was coming, since your first case. Two, Steve's truck is still not in the parking lot, which meant you were running late enough this morning that you decided not to go after it. Three, you got a little -" he gestured to his neck.

She put a hand against her neck, horrified. There was a mark? She didn't think . . .

"No, just a little beard burn," Danny grinned. "I'm a detective, remember? I pick up on the subtlties." He sobered, then continued. "And four. Adam Noshimuri dared - dared - to lay a hand to you, to hurt you. Steve comes back and finds that? Your cheek bruised, your lip split, your wrists all scraped up? He might have been fighting the good fight, officer and gentleman and all that, but someone dares hurt you - all bets are off."

Kono started to protest.

"Kono, babe, it's not about you not being able to take care of yourself. We all know you can. But you're one of us. Steve meant it, on behalf of all of us, that night we gave you a graduation. Call us old fashioned, chauvenistic, whatever - it's different. It's different to us, when it's you. When you're the one in danger, when you're the one hurt. Chin, he's your cousin, right? I'm learning what that really means here. And me, I've got sisters. Tough as nails, just like you, but doesn't matter. I'll always be protective. And Steve . . . well. He is not your cousin and he has never looked at you like a sister," Danny said, shaking his head.

"So, you're okay with it, then?" Kono asked. "I mean, he's the boss, and I'm a co-worker . . ."

Danny waved a hand. "We'll call either or both of you out on any bullshit, you know that. As long as you don't hurt each other . . ."

Kono shook her head adamantly. "We're not playing, Danny," she said.

"I didn't think so," he said, smiling.

"Hey," Kono said, realization dawning. "Where's Chin?"

"Umm," Danny answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Chin is in Steve's office . . ."

#*#*#*#*#

"Good morning, Steve," Chin said, his usual tranquil expression firmly in place.

"Morning, Chin," Steve said.

"People hurt each other, sometimes," Chin said. "People get hurt."

Steve felt his heart stop. Or maybe it was time that stopped.

"Malia and I . . . we both got hurt," Chin continued. "Because we came up against an impossible situation, and we each had different ideas on how to handle it. Both of us were wrong. Both of us got hurt. But it wasn't for carelessness. We weren't careless with each other."

Steve nodded.

"If she's careless with you, because she's young, and doesn't understand, I will be gravely disappointed," Chin said. "If you're _careless_ with her, I will kill you."

"Understood," Steve said. His heart started beating again with a thud that was painful.

"We wondered what it would take," Chin said, leaning against the door now, his posture and expression softening. "Thanks for looking after her. Maybe not quite in the way I had intended, but . . . like I said. It was inevitable."

"He hurt her," Steve said.

"I know," Chin nodded. "And yet your focus was on tending to her, not going after him."

"Yeah," Steve said. That was something of a surprise to him, too, now that Chin mentioned it.

Chin smiled. "And that's why you have my blessing, for what it's worth."

"Worth a lot to me," Steve said, suddenly choked up. "It's worth a lot to me, Chin." He stood up, came around his desk, and Chin met him halfway.

"E pili mau na pomaika 'i ia 'oe," Chin murmured, pressing his forehead against Steve's.

"Guys," Danny said, appearing in the doorway of Steve's office. "Duke just sent a text - Adam Noshimuri is out on bail. He was released about an hour ago."

Before Steve or Chin could react, the elevator pinged. The doors opened, revealing Adam, looking none the worse for wear, holding flowers.

Later, when Danny was telling Gracie - he liked telling Gracie stories of strong women defending themselves, whatever eye-rolling it might provoke from Rachel - he explained that it was just like the slow motion moments in the movies, really. He, Chin, and Steve were momentarily rooted to the spot.

Kono had come out of her office, intending to go collect her hug and blessing from Chin. Adam rushed to her, foolishly ignoring the three men watching the scene unfold.

"Kono, I'm so sorry," Adam said, "please, you have to forgive me. You have to understand; I was beside myself with grief . . . my father . . ."

Kono stepped forward, and to Steve's shock and dismay, rested her hands gently on Adam's shoulders. "I understand, Adam," she said softly. "I understand perfectly, absolutely perfectly clearly what happened."

His face broke into a smile for a split second, before she clamped his shoulders in a bruising grip and drove her knee straight up into his groin. He fell to the ground, writhing and gasping, as Chin, Steve, and Danny instinctively winced and covered their respective crotches with their hands.

"Oh dear Lord," Danny said weakly. Kono was long-limbed and elegant, with sharp edges. Very sharp edges.

"I understand that you pulled a gun on me and left me bound on the filthy floor of one of your blood money properties," Kono spat. "And you may be out on bail thanks to your family's money, but that was just the initial HPD arrest. Now you're on Five-O radar, asshole. I'm going to take a personal interest in your case."

Kono felt Steve's hand on her back, warm and strong.

"Officer Kalakaua," he said, "do you need any assistance?"

"No, boss, I've got this under control," she answered. "Mr. Noshimuri might need some help to the elevator, though. Would you mind, boys?" she asked sweetly, turning to Danny and Chin.

"Our pleasure," Danny said, as they each took an elbow and pulled Adam roughly to his feet. "There ya go," Danny said, shoving him along toward the elevator, "one foot in front of the other, walk it off . . ."

"Aloha," Chin said cheerfully, as they gave him a shove, and he stumbled into the elevator.

"Kono," he gasped one more time, desperate.

She flipped him off.

"That was unprofessional," Steve murmured, as he kissed up the side of her neck. "And hot. So incredibly hot . . . "

"Oh dear Lord," Danny said again.

#*#*#*#*#

Adam opened his eyes. Had he heard something? A noise? He wasn't sure.

Sssshhhhhiiiiiinnnnnnggg.

There. _That_ noise. He strained to see in the darkness, until the cloud passed over the moon and -

Sssshhhhhiiiiiinnnnnnggg.

Oh. So that's the noise a huge diving knife makes, when being pulled across a whetstone by a Navy SEAL.

Steve sat calmly in the upholstered chair in the corner. It was as good a place as any to sharpen the knife.

"What are you doing here?" Adam said. "You can't do this."

"I can't?" Steve asked. His eyes glittered dangerously. "Seems I am, though, doesn't it."

"What do you want? I have means, I can - Five-O is -"

"Oh, Adam, Adam," Steve said, shaking his head. "This has nothing to do with Five-O. Officer Kalakaua is in charge of your investigation at Five-O. This is a personal call."

"Personal?"

"Ummhmm. Looking out for your interests, really," Steve continued. "You see, I want to be sure there's a very clear understanding of boundaries. For everyone's safety. While Officer Kalakaua is leading the investigation into your criminal activity, she will of course have all of the resources of Five-O available to her. Considerable resources, with immunity and means. You understand."

Adam nodded mutely, watching in growing apprehension as Steve stood up.

"But while she's off the clock," Steve continued, six plus feet of finely tuned muscle towering over Adam's shaking form, "she has me. With all of my . . . considerable resources. Do you understand what I'm saying, Adam?"

Adam nodded again. Steve pondered his knife.

"You're sure you understand?"

"Ye- yes."

"Good. Because I came home from bringing in WoFat, and Kono had bruises. You put your filthy, unworthy hands on her, and you hurt her, you miserable son of a bitch," Steve growled. "You. Don't. Touch. Her. No one touches her. Are we clear?"

"Yes. Yes, we're clear," Adam stammered.

#*#*#*#*#

"Hello, Steven," Danny said grumpily, as Steve climbed back in his window. "And goodbye. Any other services I can provide for you tonight? Should we trigger the alarm on your truck, just to be sure everyone in the entire apartment complex can vouch that it's been parked here for hours?"

"Nope," Steve said cheerfully. "The security footage should be plenty."

"Remind me again, of the nature of my crisis, that prompted me to call you, like some distressed mid-life-crisis case, in the middle of the night?" Danny said, crossing his arms and staring blearily at Steve.

"It was a personal crisis, Danny," Steve grinned. "You had a few too many and got maudlin about your life. Your poor life choices, that landed you here on this god-forsaken island. The only bright spot, of course, being your beloved Gracie, and Five-O and your amazing ohana there. I came to support you. Because I'm an awesome friend and an amazing boss."

"Bite me," Danny said, "and I'm not coming in to the office until ten tomorrow."

"Of course not, Danny," Steve said, nodding sympathetically. "You need to sleep it off; pull yourself together."

"Just one question," Danny demanded, as Steve prepared to go - visibly, and on camera - out the front door. "Who do you most need this alibi for: HPD, or Kono?"

Steve just grinned.

#*#*#*#*#

"Mission accomplished?" Kono murmured sleepily, as he slipped back into bed and wrapped his long limbs around her.

"Hmm," he mumbled. "Go back to sleep. Danny needed me; he's good now."

She nestled her head on his shoulder. "Hunh. Kinda figured you'd use Chin for an alibi."

He froze. "What?"

"Please," she said, snuggling up to him and flinging a long arm around his waist. "I'm Five-O. You can't pull anything over on me, Smooth Dog."

He buried his face in her hair, inhaling the sandalwood and coconut scent. "You're amazing, you know that?"

"Ummhmm," she said. "Glad you finally figured it out."

"Yeah. Me too."

#*#*#*#*#

[E pili mau na pomaika 'i ia 'oe - May blessings ever be with you.]


End file.
